The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical connectors that have terminal position assurance devices or members to ensure that electrical terminals are properly loaded and secured within connector housings.
Electrical connectors typically include electrical terminals that are held within an insulative housing. The electrical terminals have to be properly positioned or seated within the housing to successfully mate to a corresponding electrical contact of a mating connector. If one or more of the terminals are not properly positioned, the connector may form a faulty connection when mated to a mating connector. It may be costly and/or difficult fix a faulty connection due to poor accessibility of the terminals within the connector, and a common remedy is to discard the entire connector.
Another concern with electrical connectors is retention of the terminals within the housing when in use. For example, some terminals can be exposed to significant forces towards a back or mounting end of the housing. The forces may be exerted on the terminals by mating contacts that push the terminals during the mating process, by tension on the cables attached to the terminals caused by human operators pulling the cables, or the like. Known terminals may be retained within a respective cavity of the housing via small complementary retention features, such as latches, on the terminal and the housing. However, the retention features may not be sufficiently robust to withstand the forces exerted on the terminals, causing the retention features to fail and allowing the terminals to be pulled out of position.
A need remains for an electrical connector having an attachable device or member that robustly secures the terminals in the cavities of the housing and ensures that the terminals are properly positioned in the housing prior to mating the connector to a complementary mating connector.